


tion'ad hukaat'kama

by MageOfCole



Series: Cole Does Whumptober 2020 [27]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha-17 is a Good Bro, Big Brother Alpha-17, CC-1010 | Fox is a Good Bro, CC-2224 | Cody Needs a Hug, Caring Alpha-17, Child Abuse, Child CC-2224 | Cody, Clone Troopers (Star Wars) Need Hugs, Clone Troopers Deserve Better (Star Wars), Comfortember 2020, Extreme Weather, Gen, Hurt CC-2224 | Cody, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Kamino is terrible!!, Physical Abuse, Pre-Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Protective Alpha-17, Storms, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:27:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27619043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MageOfCole/pseuds/MageOfCole
Summary: (who's watching your back)Alpha finds Cody in the halls well after curfew, drenched to the bone, and something about the way the boy is holding himself makes something like fear settle in his stomach. Alpha doesn’t like being afraid, but the longer he spent with young lives under his protection, the more scared he seemed to get.(No.27 - Ok, Who Had Natural Disasters On Their 2020 Bingo Card?)(No.6 - Afraid to Sleep)
Relationships: Alpha-17 & CC-2224 | Cody
Series: Cole Does Whumptober 2020 [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949908
Comments: 34
Kudos: 232
Collections: Alpha17





	tion'ad hukaat'kama

He finds Cody in the hall. The young cadet is drenched to the bone, skin ashen, and he stares out at the trashing black waters outside of the facility with wide, haunted eyes. Every flash of lightning or crack of thunder has the lanky _verd’ika_ flinching, and something about the way the boy is holding himself makes something heavy settle in Alpha’s stomach. The kid is standing oddly, his arms curled around his stomach, and one side of his face is a mottled mess of dark bruising around a blood-shot and swollen amber eye.

It’s already long past curfew for the cadets, so to see one of his kids wandering the halls, obviously injured, when he should be resting makes Alpha clench shaking fists at his side. “Cody.” The growing cadet flinches, finally dragging his attention away from the turbulent water of the winter storm outside of the training facility. Wide eyes meet dark brown, and Alpha raises an eyebrow, scanning his gaze across Cody’s wet, ruffled appearance. “What are you doing out right now, cadet?” He asks, but Cody just blinks, seemingly confused by Alpha’s words, like he can’t understand.

He looks groggy, and if the bruising on his face means anything, he’s probably concussed.

Alpha sighs. He’ll need to get Cody out of the halls before any overseers come by and see him out of his pod after curfew. He steps forward, scooping his _kih’vod_ into his arms with ease and, seemingly on instinct, Cody loops his legs around his hips and his arms around Alpha’s neck as he tucks his face against his older brother’s shoulder. _Osik_ , he can feel the frigid chill of the boy’s skin even through his own reds.

Cody shivers, curling himself as close to Alpha’s body heat as possible, lashes fluttering against the skin of his neck and shallow breaths puffing against his jaw.

Walking quickly and quietly, Alpha makes his way back to his own bunkroom. The one Cody shared with his brothers would be too far away, being on the other side of the facility, and there were too many overseers and trainers between here and there that would take any excuse to see the cadet sent to the labs. The room that Alpha shares with his own squad will have to do, and he knows his fellow A-classers would keep their mouths shut.

“What the _kark_ , Seventeen?” Spar spits immediately, sitting up in his bunk and eyeing Cody like the cadet was a venomous creature instead of a growing kid. Across from him, Fordo also sits up, though he looks more interested than horrified; he’d always had a soft spot for cadets, even if he’d never admit it, and had been jealous when Alpha had been assigned a CC squad to train. Spar’s sudden outburst has Havoc, Colt, and Blitz stirring as well, and soon Alpha has five different pairs of eyes staring at him - or more specifically at the kid in his arms - and looking confused and amused.

They’d be teasing him endlessly for this. They’d already teasingly been calling Alpha Squad-17’s mother, so he’d probably just made their day.

Alpha gives them all a sharp look, heading for his own bunk where he gently lowers his little brother onto the rough sheets, kneeling down to be eye-level with the boy so that he can study his injuries. Cody winces when he lifts his arms to let Alpha tug off his wet tunics, breath heaving in pained gasps until he can drop them again, and Alpha grimaces at the sight of the massive collection of bruises that this reveals. They’re dark against his brother’s skin, stretching across his stomach and ribs, up his chest and encircling his neck like someone had sat on him and tried to choke him. When Alpha manages to get him to turn around, it reveals more lashing bruises across his spine in all the places that would hurt to most, and he makes a strangled noise of fury at the sight.

His squadmates have gone cold and quiet, and he can hear one of them hiss in dismay.

“Here.” Colt makes himself known at Alpha’s elbow, a tube of high-grade bacta that Havoc had probably swiped from the trainers. Alpha grunts in thanks, taking the most-likely-stolen container from his brother and turning back to Cody.

The boy’s amber eyes are clearer, and he watches the A-classers around him nervously. They’re all so much bigger than him, and much bigger than he’d ever grow, their genetics modified for size and strength, and Cody was still only in his second growth cycle and smaller than his batchmates, barely the size of a natborn preteen. They were dangerous, and Cody was smart enough to recognize that.

“Alright, Cody.” His head turns and his eyes dart towards Alpha, and the kid winces at the look on his face, then hisses when Alpha smears chilled bacta across his back, hunching away from the cold gel. “What did you get yourself into this time?”

Cody bites his lip, then flinches at the rumbling crack of thunder, curling towards Alpha’s hands. “Priest picked me for extra training.” The small cadet reports quietly, voice almost dull, and ragged from the bruising around his throat, and Alpha growls furiously.

Priest had been sniffing around Alpha’s cadets since they had been small, looking for any chance to throw them into his bloody fighting ring, but Alpha had made sure that the trainer would know that he’d notice should any of his boys go missing. He’d made sure that everyone would notice if they disappeared; the five boys in Squad-17 were the best of their age group, and were even better than some of the older cadets, and they were all slated for high ranks once the Jedi came to collect them. Unfortunately, the man’s interest had only grown the better Alpha’s boys got in training. The fiercer they got, the more talented they became, and suddenly Alpha had found Priest observing their training more often. He had noticed that the man’s eyes had been caught by Cody - the quick little cadet with fire in his eyes and the habit of fist fighting training droids, the one who never gave up even long after he was expected to - and Alpha had been forced to grit his teeth no matter how much he wanted to push Priest from the highest spire and watch him go splat.

He had hoped that the Prime’s own interest in Cody would keep Priest away, but it would seem that it hadn’t stopped the _demogolka_ from dragging his _kih’vod_ off.

Alpha grits his teeth, and he knows his squadmates are shifting to attention, he can hear Blitz’s muffled snarl of fury at the name. “What _happened_ , cadet?”

Cody ducks his head, turning around so that Alpha can apply bacta to his chest next. He hesitates, before his expression shutters, and Alpha recognizes the look on his face as the one he gets during debriefings. “He sent an older clone to collect me from my pod after curfew with the permission of the overseers, and the trooper took me to a secluded landing pad where Priest was waiting.” An odd light crosses the boy’s expression, and he curls his arms around his stomach, trying to make himself look smaller. “When we were done, he ordered me to return to my pod and left.”

Alpha’s hands spasm across his little brother’s chest, gritting his teeth as he stares at the dark bruises painting his brother’s brown skin, and he can hear Havoc and Colt muttering something to the third member of their triad across the room. They all knew too well what happened during private training with Priest, because they had seen what he had done to Blitz once upon a time. They had lived through having Blitz returned to them, beaten within an inch of his life and broken in a way none of them could truly fix, and they had all helped him put himself back together to the best of their abilities.

“I didn’t want to go back to my pod though.” Cody continues, voice shaky, “I was scared that he’d come back.” The boy admits, shivering not just from the cold he had been forced to endure or the frigid storm water that had likely seeped into his bones.

“Kid, if any overseers had found you, you could have been sent to the labs.” He warns, and while it’s cruel to remind him of the fate of so many brothers, his little brother had always been too reckless, and Alpha would really prefer it if one of his kids didn’t end up cut open on a table.

Cody sets his chin stubbornly, then hisses when Alpha smears bacta across his neck and jaw. “I wasn’t though.” The cadet grumbles, and Alpha scowls at the stubborn brat. “And you found me, so it worked out.”

“I found you lost in your own head, you brat.” Alpha retorts, angry at the fear he feels. If Fox hadn’t told him that Cody was missing, he wouldn’t have even gone looking, and it might have meant the cadet’s death. Alpha doesn’t like being afraid, but the longer he spent with young lives under his protection, the more scared he seemed to get. “Anyone could have done that.” He pokes his _kih’vod_ in his bony shoulder, carefully avoiding the bruises Priest had left behind. “And then where would you be?”

Cody blinks, expression growing distant once more, and Alpha grips the back of his neck to drag him out of whatever headspace his most reckless _kih’vod_ had found himself in. Then, his small hands shaking, his kid reaches out to grip, white-knuckled, at Alpha’s reds. Alpha sighs, ruffling close-cropped black curls, and his little brother leans into the touch. “Toss me an extra top, would you?” He calls to his squadmates, and some shuffling follows before someone’s extra tunic is lobbed at his head. He catches it without looking, then tugs it over Cody’s head, listening to his _kih’vod_ squawk in offense. “I’ll take you to see _Baar’ur_ Gilamar.” He tells the boy quietly, “Try to get some sleep.”

Swimming in the oversized tunic, Cody stares up at Alpha with wide eyes, so Alpha gently pushes the scrawny cadet until he’s laying down before he lays down next to him and stretches out. Throwing one arm around his _kih’vod_ , Alpha pulls him close until the small body is tucked against his chest. “Go to sleep, Kot’ika. I’ll watch your back.”

It’s a testament to how exhausted the cadet is that he doesn’t argue, and instead drifts off almost immediately, breathing evening out to little huffs. Alpha stays quiet for a long moment, gently rubbing Cody’s back, tracing each bump of his spine, and listening to the muted chatter of his squad.

Alpha doesn’t even need to look up when a vent clatters, “I’ve got him.” He says quietly, and Fox lets out a quiet breath of relief. Sighing, Alpha curls himself protectively around his baby brother, listening to Fox shuffling closer.

"Is he okay?"

"He will be." Alpha says confidently, “You did good kid.”

Cody would heal, and the next time Alpha had to train with Priest, he'd make sure to be extra vicious.


End file.
